Influenza is also called the flu. It is an infectious disease that causes fever, cough, chills, headaches, body aches, and sometimes otalgias or fistula problems. The flu is caused by the flu virus . A virus is a microorganism which is so small that you can not see it without a microscope.

For most of the people, the influenza is a drag, that is, it goes away in a week or two. But for some people, the flu virus can make them very ill. Those groups include:

Babies and kids under age Five
People older than 50 vears.
Adults and kids who have common health problems, like diabetes and asthma

Flu is a communicable disease caused by the flu virus.  The Influenza virus infects many parts of the body including the lungs also.

When a person who suffers from influenza sneezes, coughs, or even talks, the influenza virus is thrownout into the air and this air may be taken in by anyone close to him/ her and thus the other person also gets the disease.
When flu strikes the lungs, the lining of the respiratory tract gets damaged and the tissues become swollen and inflamed.
It is often called a respiratory disease, that affects the whole body. The victim usually becomes acutely ill with pyrexia, shiverings, weakness, loss of appetite and aching of the head and whole body. The influenza diseased person may also have a sore throat and a dry cough, sickness, and burning eyes. The fever goes up quickly and the temperature may rise even upto 106 degrees F, but after 2 or 3 days, it usually lessens. The patient is often lfeels exhausted for many days afterwards.
SARS, a potentially more dangerous disease may start due to influenza.
Anyone could get influenza, particularly when it is distributed in the biotic community. Persons who are not healthy or well to start with are particularly susceptible to the ramifications that can follow. These people are known as “high risk” and should urgently be vaccinated.

For anyone at high risk, influenza is a very serious illness. These include the people who
Have heart diseases.
Have chronic lung diseases like asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, bronchiectasis, tuberculosis, or cystic fibrosis.
Have chronic kidney disease.
Have serious anemia.
Have diabetes or some other chronic metabolic disorder.
Have diseases or , are having treatments that can depress the immunity.
Women who will be pregnant during influenza season.
All children from 6 to 59 months of age.
Are over age 50.

Numerous experts now recommend that any individual who bids to avoid the influenza should be immunized. These includes those suffering from asthma. A recent American Lung Association study founded that the influenza vaccine is safe for and well supported i for the people suffering from asthma. Another recent study suggested that the vaccine could be important for infants also.

Influenza thus can be prevented with a high degree of success , when a person receives a flu vaccine. There are two vaccine available in the United States.
The first is the flu shot and the second one is Flu Mist.
The viruses in the flu shot are deactivated so that someone immunized cannot get flu from the flu shot.
Flu Mist is the 1st nasal spray authorised for influenza vaccination. This nasal spray is made from an alive but weakened virus, administrated to help develop immunity.

Every 10 years or so, a flu virus strain appears, that’s dramatically distinct from the other members of its family. Once this major change comes about a universal epidemic, called a pandemic, almost unavoidably follows.Several people have antibodies that are effective against the new virus.
One such virus caused the 1918 flu epidemic that entirely swept the world and left in its wake more than 20 million dead.